Method and apparatus for providing broadband access conferencing services

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for providing broadband conferencing services is provided. The method includes the steps of establishing a voice channel over a circuit switched telephone network and a virtual data channel over a packet data network between at least two parties. The apparatus includes a telephone line and a digital data line sharing a single subscriber loop in addition to a system for establishing a virtual data channel over a packet data network. Further, an advanced intelligent network telephone network having a first database of customer premise equipment and a second database having data addresses associated with the customer premise equipment is disclosed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to broadband conferencing services. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatusfor providing voice and data services by coordinating standard telephonenetwork and packet data network resources.

A majority of telephone service subscribers use analog Plain OldTelephone Services (POTS) when placing ordinary voice telephone calls.POTS is often delivered over a subscriber loop of copper wires installedbetween each subscriber and a local telephone company (telco) centraloffice. The telco central office contains circuit switches thatinterconnect subscribers and establish call connections. Typically, acircuit connection is established for each telephone call and thisconnection is maintained for the duration of a call.

The increased use of computers in businesses and homes has lead to anincreased load on standard telephone networks. Also, video telephoneconferencing is becoming a more popular and utilized tool. Data andvideo often require large amounts of bandwidth that are not readilyavailable over a standard telephone line. Subscribers wishing to hold aconversation with someone while simultaneously transmitting anassociated video signal or other types of data are typically limited tousing separate subscriber loops or a specialized software package thatencodes the data on top of the voice information.

The use of separate subscriber loops is disadvantageous due to theexpense of installing the extra subscriber loop wiring and switchingcapabilities in the network. Further, a subscriber would need tomaintain records of the telephone number for the voice connection andthe telephone number of the data connection. Each number would be dialedseparately when a connection was desired.

A method of communicating both voice and data information over a singlesubscriber loop is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,345. The disclosedmethod implements integrated services digital network (ISDN) facilitiesto carry both data and voice information over a circuit switchedtelephone network. Although the method used in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,345permits data and voice information over a single subscriber loop, themethod is designed for end-to-end calls between the caller and calledparty only and does not support simultaneous voice and data to multipleparties. The disclosed ISDN embodiment requires that both the caller andcalled party have ISDN facilities. In addition, the voice and datacommunication paths are both established through dedicated circuits inthe circuit switched telephone network and may impose a high demand onnetwork resources.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method ofcommunicating both voice and data information over a single subscriberloop, providing flexible and efficient use of existing infrastructure,reducing the load on circuit switched telephone network resources, andpermitting multiple parties to participate in the same voice and datacommunication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone network system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the central office of the telephone networksystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a subscriber location in the telephone networksystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the tandem location of the telephone network ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the interworking unit of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of implementing broadbandaccess conferencing services using the telephone network system of FIG.1.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of establishing abroadband conference call for multiple parties using the method of FIG.6 and the telephone network system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of a telephone network. Telephone subscribers 10are typically serviced by analog telephone lines carried to the centraloffice 20 by a subscriber loop 12 including twisted pairs of copperwires. Groups of subscribers 14 may also be connected by subscriberloops to a remote terminal 16 which combines a number of subscribersonto a digital multiplexed data line 18 for transmission to the centraloffice 20. One suitable digital multiplexed data line may be a24-channel multiplexed T1 line.

Typically, a number of central offices 20 are connected by direct trunkcircuits 22 or through tandem locations 30. The tandem locations 30provide trunk circuits 22 to connect two central offices or other tandemlocations 30. The tandem locations 30 can thus provide connectionsbetween central offices that do not have direct interconnecting trunks.It is to be understood that the telephone switching network may havemultiple levels of tandem switching or other network topologies.

The central office 20, more commonly known as a service switching point(SSP), is a programmable switch having the ability to recognize advancedintelligent network (AIN) triggers for calls requiring special services.The central office 20 communicates with a service control point (SCP)80. The SCP 80 is a network element containing logic and data necessaryto provide the functionality required for the execution of a desiredcommunications service. For example, the SCP 80 can contain call controlservice software that blocks certain numbers predetermined to berestricted to callers calling from a particular location. In thisexample, the call control service function would compare a dialed numberwith a list of restricted numbers to see if the call is permissible. AnSCP 80 generally permits separation of service logic from switchingfunctionality so that additional services may be developed without theneed to alter the equipment or logic used in each individual centraloffice 20. The SCP 80 preferably includes a customer premise equipment(CPE) database 81 and a data address database 83 that can crossreference the telephone number of a party originating a call andreceiving a call with the type of CPE and data address of each party. Asuitable SCP 80 is the AXE SCP manufactured by Ericsson Inc. The SCP 80is preferably in communication with a central office 20 via a signaltransfer point (STP) 82 and one or more switches such as a tandem switch30. The STP 82 routes signals between different network elements. Asuitable data signaling standard for use in a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention is the American National Standards Institute(ANSI) Signaling System No. 7 (SS7).

The SCP 80 may communicate with an intelligent peripheral 84 over a datapath. The data path leads from the SCP 80 to the STP 82 over a data lineutilizing SS7 standard protocol. The STP 82 then communicates with thecentral office 20 over another leg in the data path using the SS7protocol. The central office 20 reformats the message from the SCP 80from SS7 into an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) standardmessage which is then forwarded over the final leg of the data path tothe intelligent peripheral 84. The intelligent peripheral 84 may returnmessages along the same data path.

The intelligent peripheral 84 is an AIN network element that containsresources to exchange information with a telephone subscriber 10 andperform other functions such as call origination and tone generation.The intelligent peripheral 84 provides special resources forinteractions between the telephone subscriber 10 and the network such asDTMF recognition, playing announcements and tone generation. In apreferred embodiment, an application using the database 85 in theintelligent peripheral 84 may be programmed with the necessaryfunctionality to manage concurrent data and voice communications betweenmultiple parties under the direction of the SCP 80. A servicesnode/intelligent peripheral (SN/IP) platform is manufactured by ComverseTechnology, Inc. that is suitable for use with a presently preferredsystem and method. A voice/information channel may also link theintelligent peripheral to a central office 20. Although the telephonenetwork illustrated in FIG. 1 shows one network configuration, those ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the presently preferredmethod may be performed on more complex networks having a plurality ofinterconnected SCP's and intelligent peripheral's.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the central office 20 of FIG. 1. Thecentral office 20 preferably includes equipment to handle analogtelephone lines such as conventional POTS. Conventional POTS istypically handled by a local telephone switching device 23. Suitablelocal telephone switching devices are Northern Telecom DMS-100 or ATTNo. 5 ESS switches. Alternatively, an analog telephone line may also beprovided by a Centrex type service or private branch exchange (PBX). Asknown to those skilled in the art, an analog telephone service may alsobe provided by a digital carrier system such as a T1 carrier or othertype of concentrator.

In addition to providing POTS service, the central office may also beconfigured to provide a digital data line. For example, a digital dataline may be implemented by a digital subscriber line access multiplexer(DSLAM) 24 to multiplex traffic from digital subscriber loops. Digitalsubscriber loops or digital carrier systems provided by a remoteterminal 16 or an office terminal 25 provide digital data lines whichenable subscribers 10 to transmit large amounts of digital multiplexdata traffic over the POTS twisted pair telephone line. Preferably, thedigital subscriber loop is an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL).ADSL typically implements a digital subscriber line with a maximum datarate from the central office 20 to the subscriber 10 which is higherthan the maximum available data rate from the subscriber 10 to thecentral office 20. For example, ADSL typically provides an asymmetricdata rate of 1.5 megabytes-per-second (mbs) to the subscriber from thecentral office and about 400 kilabytes-per-second (kbs) from thesubscriber location to the central office. Most preferably, ADSLimplements an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data transmissionprotocol between the subscriber 10 and the central office 20. It will berecognized that other types of data transmission protocols, such as ISDNand Radish, may be utilized. Although these other protocols can be usedto implement the present invention, the present invention is notdependent on any one protocol. In alternate embodiments, the digitaldata line may be provided by other types of digital carrier systems suchas a Sonet based digital system.

Referring to FIG. 2, the subscriber loops pairs 12 carrying both analogvoice and digital data traffic from subscribers 10 to the central office20 terminate at a main distribution frame (MDF) 26. From the MDF 26, thesubscriber loops 12 are connected to a means for separating POTS voice32 frequencies from digital data traffic 34 such as a splitter 28.Preferably, the splitter 28 is implemented by the DSLAM 24. The internaloperation of the splitter 28 is described in more detail below inconnection with a splitter at the subscriber 10. The splitter 28preferably has an output for POTS signals and another output for datatraffic. From the splitter 28, the separated POTS voice signals 32 areconnected back to the MDF 26 and onto the local switching device 23handling POTS telephone calls. The data traffic output of the splitter28 is directed to the DSLAM 24 to multiplex the digital data into aformat suitable for transport on a data network 40. Depending on thedata network 40, the DSLAM 24 may operate at higher bit rates such asthose appropriate for Sonet OC-12. The data network 40 may be configuredin different topologies and is preferably connected to a tandem location30 to allow access to other central offices.

In the case of subscriber loops that are connected to the central officethrough a digital loop carrier system (i.e. a remote terminal 16 and anoffice terminal 25), the DSLAM 24 and its splitter 28 are preferablyplaced at the remote terminal 16. The data and voice signals areseparated with a splitter 28 as described above. The voice signals arecarried on digital loop carrier system to the office terminal 25 wherethey are connected through the MDF 26 to the local circuit switch 23.Preferably, the data signals are carried on a separate optical fiber orSonet frame in the carrier system so that they can easily be separatedfrom the voice signals in the office terminal 25. These signals aretransmitted from the office terminal to the data network 40.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram of a telephone subscriber location 10 such as atypical home or small office. A network interface device (NID) 41connects the subscriber to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).The subscriber loop 12 between the subscriber 10 and the central office20 is terminated at the NID 41. Customer premise equipment (CPE) 52,such as a standard telephone set, a key system, PBX, or a computernetwork to access the PSTN is connected at the NID 41. Voice signalsfrom an analog telephone line 53 and data signals from a digital dataline 55 are typically carried to the subscriber 10 on the samesubscriber loop 12.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the NID 41 includes ameans for separating voice frequency signals from data signals.Preferably, a splitter 44 separates voice frequency signals from thedata traffic sharing the subscriber loop 12 wire pair. For example, toseparate POTS from data traffic, the splitter 44 typically includes ahigh-pass filter 46 and a low-pass filter 48. To separate POTS voicesignals, the low-pass filter 48 blocks high frequency signals, forexample signals above 5 KHz, passing only lower voice frequency signalson a conventional CPE POTS loop 50. The voice signals on the CPE POTSloop 50 are connected to standard telephones 52 such as a Bell 103 setproviding conventional POTS service. It should be noted that aconventional computer modem 54 can also utilize the conventional CPEPOTS loop 50.

To recover data traffic, the high-pass filter 42 blocks low frequencysignals, for example signals below 5 KHz, leaving only high frequencydata traffic signals to be sent out on a separate CPE data network loop56. The CPE data network loop 56 is connected to CPE equipped to accessdata traffic, for example, a network of personal computers. In oneembodiment, the CPE data network 56 implements an asynchronous transfermode network (ATM). Each of the personal computers 58 is equipped withan ATM network interface card (NIC) to allow the computer to access theCPE data network 56. The NIC 41 preferably also includes datasegmentation and reassembly (SAR) capability to packetize data fortransmission on the data network 56. Of course, other types of computernetworks, such as an Ethernet network, may also be implemented.

Preferably, the CPE data network 56 is also equipped with one or moredigital telephones 60 capable of interfacing the data network 56 toallow a subscriber to place a voice telephone call over the CPE datanetwork 56. For example, a digital telephone 60 may be implemented withone of the personal computers 58 on the data network 56 by adding atelephone handset and an appropriate NIC with telephony functions. Thetelephone handset transmits and receives analog voice signals similar toa conventional handset. The computer/NIC provides SAR capability forconverting analog voice to a digital packet stream for transmission overthe CPE data network 56. The data network 56 also carries the basictelephony signaling functions. One such system capable of providing sucha digital telephone is an ATM network based telephone system from SphereCommunications in Lake Bluff, Ill.

Using the CPE data network 56, the subscriber 10 can place a voice callusing a telephone line derived from the digital data line. POTS serviceoperates as a usual over the POTS wiring 50 to provide regular telephoneservice such as a telephone line carrying analog voice signals. Inaddition, the data network 56 with digital telephone 60 also has thecapability to place voice telephone calls using one or more derivedvoice lines implemented through the data network.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a tandem location which contains atandem voice switch (not shown), a Class 5 local switch 70 and a meansfor providing access to digital data networks. The Class 5 local switch70 typically connects local subscriber loops to the telephone network,while a separate tandem voice switch (not shown) provides conventionalcircuit-switched connections for directing POTS traffic between centraloffices 20 (FIG. 1) of the PSTN. Class 5 local switches such as the AT&T5 ESS and the Nortel DMS 100, and tandem voice switches such as the AT&T4 ESS and the Nortel-DMS 250 are known to those skilled in the art. Incomparison, the means for providing data access to data networks ispreferably a packet switch handling digital data traffic. For example, adata access tandem switch 72 provides access to data networks carryingdigital data traffic. Preferably, the data networks 40 are equipped toaccept ATM packet-switched connections. Although the internet is apreferred packet data network, other data networks 40 supporting packetdata formats, such as intranets or corporate local area networks, may beused. The data access tandem switch 72 is an ATM fabric switchconfigured to provide virtual connections on demand between end usersand providers of data networks and services. The data access tandemswitch 72 may connect end users to various network service providers(NSPs) such as UUNet, MCI, Sprintnet, and AADS.

The tandem location 30 may also include a means to interface the dataaccess tandem 72 and the Class 5 switch. For example, an interworkingunit (IWU) 74 may implement an interface between the data access tandemswitch 72 and the Class 5 switch 70 of the PSTN. The IWU 74 enablesvoice telephone calls carried by the data network 40 to access the PSTNthrough the Class 5 switch 70. The IWU 74 is capable of converting avoice telephone call in the data network protocol from the data accesstandem switch 72 into the circuit-switch protocol of the Class 5 switch70. Preferably, the IWU 74 interfaces an ATM packet data stream to amultiplexed circuit-switch protocol with dynamic allocation of voicechannels such as TR303.

For example, as seen in FIG. 5, the IWU 74 performs the SAR 76 of voicedata from an ATM stream into an analog voice signal. The analog voicesignal is then converted 78 into the TR-303 protocol, as known to thoseskilled in the art. More preferably, the IWU 74 converts the packetizedATM voice streams to a digital PCM format which is then converted to thedesired TR-303 protocol. It should be noted that the local switch 70 mayalso be directly connected to a data access tandem 72 without the IWUinterface 74. Newer generation digital switches may be capable ofdirectly interfacing with the data transfer protocol of the data accesstandem 72. For example, new generation circuit-switches may directlyaccept an ATM data stream for switching into the PSTN without the needfor an IWU.

Utilizing the above-described system, a method of implementing broadband access conferencing services may be accomplished as described belowand shown in FIG. 6 A caller makes telephone call in order to reachanother party, such as a business (at step 86). At the switch, thecalling party's call creates an AIN trigger that alerts the SCP of thecall (at step 88). The SCP makes a data base query to determine theproperties of the calling parties CPE and the called party's CPE (atstep 90). If the CPEs for caller and called party are similarlyconfigured, for example both CPEs are capable of supporting ADSLbroadband protocol, the addresses of the data interfaces at the callerCPE and called CPE are identified (at step 92). The data addresses maybe Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the data CPE at both locations.The system then automatically uses the data addresses of the two sidesto set up a virtual data channel between the caller and the called party(at step 94) over a packet data network.

Preferably, the SCP looks up the IP addresses of the parties in adatabase and sends the appropriate address or addresses to the data CPEof each party at the beginning of the voice call. The database may be alocal database 83 in the SCP or the database may be remotely located andaccessible by the SCP. Each CPE would then store the received IP addressuntil needed. Another preferred method of providing the IP addresses isfor the SCP to periodically transmit the addresses to each party afterthe voice call is connected. Because the data connection is establishedafter the voice conversation begins in this embodiment, the IPconnections are not yet running in the CPE of the different parties tothe communication at the beginning of a call. The SCP preferably placesthe IP addresses for all the parties into a memory buffer in the networksuch as within the SCP. Preferably, the applications running at each ofthe CPEs are preprogrammed to know where to find the memory buffercontaining the IP addresses. A service provider supplying the telephonenetwork capability allowing parallel circuit switched voice calling andpacket data communications over a virtual data channel preferablyutilizes a standard protocol compatible with application softwarerunning at the CPEs.

A CPE does not always need to look to a specific memory buffer in anetwork element, such as an SCP, to find IP addresses for other parties.Standard caller ID information associated with circuit switched voicetelephone calls is usable by the CPE for each party to index a standarddatabase containing IP addresses. An example of this is set forth belowwhere the caller is an individual seeking consumer/repair informationand the called party is a company customer service center. In thisexample, the caller can initiate a software application at the caller'sCPE that would retrieve the IP address associated with the servicecenter, in a data sharing session with an application running at thecomputer work station of a service representative with whom the calleris speaking over the circuit switched connection. The servicerepresentative's application may use the calling party's caller ID toindex the IP address at the application supporting the network side ofthe service center's ADSL access line.

Referring again to FIG. 6, after providing the IP addresses to theparties and establishing the virtual data channel, data is transmittedbetween the caller and the called party over the virtual data channelcreated on a packetized data network 40 (at step 96). Upon terminationof the voice call over the circuit switched network, the virtual datachannel is terminated (at step 98). The switch connected to the callingparty or the called party informs the SCP managing the call that thecalling or called party has hung up in one preferred embodiment. The SCPthen notifies the applications running in the CPE of the caller andcalled parties over the data channel that the call has been terminated.The applications then know to cease communicating.

The data transmission that takes place over the established virtual datachannel on the packet data network may be in the form of real-time videoso that the standard telephone call initially made by the caller resultsin a video telephone conversation. In this embodiment, both the callerand the called party would utilize video cameras connected to thepersonal computer 58 at their respective subscriber locations. Othertypes of video equipment and digital interface equipment capable ofcommunication over a digital data line may be used. Alternatively, asimple one way transmission of data from one party to the other may beaccomplished in parallel with a voice conversation. This data, such as adigitized photograph or a text file, can be manually sent between theparties at any time during the voice conversation.

In another embodiment, an interactive software application may belaunched over the virtual data channel on the packet data network andshared between the two or more ends of the virtual data channel. Oneexample of a software application is an internet web page for a companycustomer service center. In this example, a person calling to find outabout a company's product dials a standard telephone number and, as setforth above, would establish a circuit switched voice connection and avirtual data channel. The IP addresses of both parties are passed toapplications supporting the network side of the access lines andapplications running in the CPE are able to retrieve the addresses toestablish the virtual connection.

An advantage of the present system and method over systems requiringISDN to transmit voice and data is that the present system and methoddoes not require all parties in the network to possess specialequipment. Unlike ISDN calls, which do not use packet data typeprotocols, the present method permits efficient use of packet datanetworks such as ADSL to synchronize voice and data transmission bysimply dialing a standard telephone number. Using the packet datanetwork in conjunction with the POTS network also enables multipleparties to conference in on both the voice and data communications.Multi-party conferencing is attained using ordinary voice callconferencing techniques in conjunction with the processes ofdistributing IP addresses described above.

One preferred embodiment of a method for establishing a voice and dataconference call is shown in FIG. 7. Party A, desiring to set up a voiceand data conference call with parties B and C, initiates the conferencecall by first dialing party B (at step 100). The SCP distributes IPaddresses for the two parties as set forth above (at step 102). Party Anext initiates a call to party C using standard voice conference callservices and adds party C to the call (at step 104). The application inthe SCP identifies that party C is properly equipped for a dataconnection and distributes party C's data address to both A and B (atstep 106). The SCP also provides party C with the IP addresses for A andB. An application in A or B would then use the receipt of C's IP addressas a trigger to send a copy of the screen (data) being shared by A and Bto C's display (at step 108). Once the circuit switched voice channelsand virtual data channels between the parties have been established, athree way voice and data conference call may commence. Additionalparties may be added to this broadband conference call by any of thecurrent parties to the call using the method described above.

The preferred method and apparatus for enabling broadband conferencingusing a combination of circuit switched voice calls and associatedpacket data network data channels provides flexibility in adaptingexisting infrastructure to accommodate enhanced capabilities. Ratherthan having to create an entirely new communications application, suchas a multi-media conferencing exclusively communicated over theinternet, some of the functionality already existing on an analogtelephone network having AIN capability may be used. Thus, broadbandaccess conferencing services can be introduced without the need forevery subscriber of network provider to have special equipment.Subscribers can choose to delay upgrading their CPEs until they areready and still participate in the voice portion of communicationsbetween one or several other subscribers having CPEs upgraded for voiceand data communication.

As has been described above, by using emerging broadband accesstechnology such as ADSL a conferencing service can be created thatsupplements an ordinary telephone call by automatically providing asecond, virtual communication path between two or more parties. Thepreferred method can support a video conferencing service wherein thevoice communication is carried on over a traditional telephone networkand the video associated with the voice is transmitted over theinternet. Other applications of the present method and system are ascreen sharing service wherein a company and a caller are simultaneouslylooking at a page in a catalog while discussing the page over thetelephone call. Additionally, an interactive voice response service maybe initiated with the present system and method wherein a caller can usean ordinary telephone line to interact with a series of prompts andchoices resulting in changes on the video screen. For instance,different web pages may be sent to the caller's computer or a multipointgame with voice conferencing may be implemented. The present system andmethod also has the advantage of allowing telephone companies toleverage the functionality of an embedded base of systems, for exampleAIN, to more quickly and inexpensively offer new and enhanced servicesusing new technologies such as ADSL.

It is intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded asillustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understood that thefollowing claims, including all equivalents, are intended to define thescope of this invention.

I claim:
 1. A method of providing a broadband conferencing servicecomprising the steps of:receiving a telephone call from a calling partyat a switch in a circuit switched telephone network; establishing avoice channel over the circuit switched telephone network between acalled party and the calling party; and, automatically establishing avirtual data channel between the called party and the calling party overa packet data network, whereby the virtual data channel established onthe packet data network reduces a load on circuit switched telephonenetwork resources.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofestablishing the virtual data channel further comprises:determining aconfiguration of customer premise equipment for the calling party;determining a configuration of CPE for the called party; and,establishing the virtual data channel between the calling party and thecalled party if the configuration of CPE for the calling party iscompatible with the configuration of CPE for the called party.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the step of launching anapplication over the virtual data channel, the application capable ofinteracting with both the calling party and the called party.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the calling party sending data tothe called party over the virtual data channel.
 5. The method of claim2, wherein the steps of determining the configuration of the callingparty's CPE and the called party's CPE comprise interrogating a databasehaving configuration information to determine if the calling party's andcalled party's CPEs have compatible broadband access capabilities. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the step of determining configuration ofCPE for the calling party comprises the switch communicating with aservice control point and wherein the database is located at the SCP. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of establishing thevoice channel and the virtual data channel with at least one additionalparty, wherein the voice channel is established over the circuitswitched network and the virtual channel is established over the packetdata network.
 8. A method of providing broadband access servicesallowing a voice and data communication between at least two partiescomprising the steps of:receiving a telephone call from a calling partyover a subscriber loop; determining compatibility of customer premiseequipment for broadband access services for the calling party and acalled party; determining a data address for the calling party and adata address for the called party; establishing a voice channel over thesubscriber loop; and establishing a virtual data channel between thecalling party and the called party over a packet data network via thesubscriber loop, wherein the voice channel and the virtual data channelshare the subscriber loop.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein thesubscriber loop is a conventional voice telephone line.
 10. The methodof claim 8, wherein the data addresses for the called party and thecalling party are determined by a service control point looking up dataaddresses associated with the telephone numbers of the called andcalling party in a database.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein thedata addresses are internet protocol addresses.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein the step of establishing a virtual data channel comprisesthe SCP providing the IP address of the calling party to the calledparty over the packet data network, and providing the IP address of thecalled party to the calling party over the packet data network.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising the step of the calling partytransmitting data over the virtual data channel using an asynchronoustransfer mode transmission protocol.
 14. The method of claim 8, whereinthe step of determining compatibility of CPE for the calling partycomprises looking up the CPE capabilities associated with the telephonenumbers of the calling party and the called party in a database ofsubscriber CPEs.
 15. The method of claim 8, further comprising the stepof adding an additional party to the voice and data communicationbetween the calling party and the called party.
 16. The method of claim15, wherein the step of adding the additional party comprises:receivinga request from one of the called party and the calling party to connectthe voice channel to the additional party; determining compatibility ofCPE for the additional party with CPE for the calling party and thecalled party; determining a data address for the additional party; andconnecting the additional party to the virtual data channel bytransmitting the data address for the additional party to each of thecalling and called parties and transmitting the data addresses of thecalling and called parties to the additional party, whereby all partiesshare information over the virtual data channel concurrently withcommunications over the voice channel.
 17. A system for supportingbroadband access services comprising:a telephone line and a digital dataline sharing a first subscriber loop; and a telephone network incommunication with the first subscriber loop, the telephone networkcomprising:a first database having a first list of telephone numbers anda list of customer premise equipment associated with the first list oftelephone numbers; a second database having a second list of telephonenumbers and a list of data addresses associated with the second list oftelephone numbers; and means for establishing a virtual data channelbetween the CPE of at least two parties over a packet data network, themeans for establishing the virtual data channel in communication withthe first and second database and responsive to voice calls received atthe telephone network.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the digitaldata line is an asymmetric digital subscriber line.
 19. The system ofclaim 18, wherein the first subscriber loop comprises a twisted pairwire.
 20. The system of claim 17 further comprising a voice channelconnecting a calling party on the first subscriber loop to a calledparty on a second subscriber loop via the telephone network, and thevirtual data channel connecting the called party and the calling partyover the first and second subscriber loops via the packet data network.